The Muffin Man

By Shirley Spain

The Muffin Man, as the media has named the serial killer, ruthlessly takes the life of a woman every eight days. These horrifying acts culminate in the discovery of the victims’ violated bodies, which are cruelly displayed in neighborhood parks, their limbs forcibly spread apart. The killer leaves behind a sinister signature, concealing the absence of the victims’ breasts with oversized muffins.

Detective Jordan Jewkes finds himself facing a dire situation with scarce leads and limited time. Tragically, as the body count rises rapidly, a disconcerting pattern emerges—one that puts his former spouse and love interest, the captivating Sabrina Vegas, directly in the sights of the sinister killer. Determined to prevent any further harm inflicted by the notorious and ominous figure known as The Muffin Man, Jordan must unveil the killer’s true identity before another innocent woman, possibly including Sabrina, falls victim to his cruel torments and meets a grisly end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shirley Spain
• Release date: Dec 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215329719

Shirley Spain

An animal lover, fitness instructor, and author of dark and chilling thrillers...Shirley strives for what she calls, "plausible realism" in her books and garners critical details from her "police ride along" experiences as well as educating herself by attending and graduating from the West Jordan Citizen's Police Academy and receiving training as a CERT member (Community Emergency Response Team). She is currently a West Jordan Police Department VIPS (Volunteer In Police Service).​When researching Ultimate Trust (book 2 in the Jewels Trust M.U.R.D.E.R. series) her antagonist built a bomb and consequently blew up a house. To ensure the scene was "plausible" she met with the fire chief and a SWAT arson investigator who helped her "build a better bomb" for her story!"Thinking up and plotting the dastardly deeds of demented killers is a challenge," Shirley says. "However the real fun begins when figuring out how my heroine--and her studly hero, of course--will turn the tables, outsmart the twisted murderer, and survive."In real life, Shirley has been a victim of human predators more than once, yet lives by the motto: No matter what horrible circumstance life hurls at you, choose to survive and become stronger because of it. She uses that maxim as a guide when writing her novels.Shirley often wrangles friends into "role playing" when researching scenes and admits she "experiments" on herself and has done so with some of the tools her bad guys use, including duct tape, a variety of rope, and handcuffs. She even locked herself in the trunk of her car and attempted to escape. Hmmm. Knowing this, you may wonder how many of the stunts described in her books she tried on herself ... but she'll never tell!

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The Muffin Man

Copyright © 2022, 2023 Shirley Spain

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All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction.

The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

Dedication

For

All the kids who grew up singing

The Muffin Man

Fond Childhood Memories

Inspire Killer Short Story

When I was a little girl, I remember singing The Muffin Man song over and over, ad nauseam, at least according to my mother. Maybe her aversion to me singing it over and over had more to do with the fact I couldn’t carry a tune, than the song itself.

Fast forward to my mature adult years. I still sing, especially along with songs on the radio and I really belt it out when I’m alone in my car.

If my husband happens to hear me, he claims I sound like a sick crow (as if he knows what a singing sick crow sounds like). But it doesn’t bother me because I happen to like crows, even those—especially those—that can’t carry a tune.

Regardless of my husband’s opinion, I like singing to my dog, Ben. He’s a 100-pound coonhound/Labrador mix I adopted from a shelter in 2014. Ben will snuggle up next to me and rest his head on my lap as I sing the chorus line of You Are My Sunshine to him. So he appreciates my sick crow singing voice. I know what you might be wondering: Is Ben deaf? Ha-ha. No. Ben’s hearing is fine. And he doesn’t howl when I sing either.

Anyway, one day in the shower I received a download from the idea Universe. (I often receive inspiration for stories when taking a shower.) The idea came to me to write a short thriller about a serial killer the media coins The Muffin Man. So that’s what I did. I planned to limit the story to 5,000 words. But once I started writing, I ended up with an 12,000-word novella. I hope you enjoy it.

Acknowledgements

Every time I publish a new book, I am overcome with gratitude. The Muffin Man is no exception. I could not be living my dream as an author were it not for the relentless support and patience of my wonderful husband, Curtis Spain, who provides fabulous plot and character feedback.

A thank you goes out to so many others, too numerous to name, for offering words of encouragement to cheer me on, often coming at a time when I need to hear them the most. I am blessed and humbled to have so many wonderful people in my life who accept and love me despite my quirkiness. Hugs of appreciation to all of you.

Shirley Spain

Author of Dark and Chilling Thrillers

A Note of Appreciation

With the thousands of terrific authors in the world and literally millions of books to choose from, I am honored and sincerely grateful you have chosen The Muffin Man for your reading pleasure.

No matter if you discovered this novella, perhaps based on the recommendation of a friend, or if you’re a fan of my other books, or if you simply happened to be perusing selections and found the story description intriguing, THANK YOU for reading this novella.

I wish you a killer-good entertainment experience.

—Shirley

ONE

WEDNESDAY.